Anna Raymond

Anna Ruth Raymond (“Ann”) passed away Friday, September 6, 2024, surrounded by multiple generations of loving family in Waco, Texas. Anna was 90 years old.

Anna was born on January 31, 1934, in Buhler, Kansas, to Drs. Nell McLeod and Peter Schellenberg Loewen. She lived in Kansas throughout her early years and graduated from East High School in Wichita. Anna earned a B.A., magna cum laude from Wichita State University in 1955, majoring in zoology and minoring in chemistry and secondary education. In addition to her formal education, Anna was tenacious, capable, and multi-talented. She could sew, upholster, refinish furniture, wall-paper, cook, landscape, and play bridge. She began a passion for improving houses, starting as a teenager with making cushions and curtains for her family’s home. This passion became a major thread throughout her life.

Anna married the love of her life and partner of over 68 years, Thomas Hamilton Raymond (“Tom”), August 11, 1952. She lived her next two years at a fast pace. Daughter Linda was born in 1954 while Anna continued at the university. At the age of twenty, she earned her Bachelor’s degree with her husband on one arm and a daughter on the other. The young family moved to Kansas City where Anna taught math at Old Mission Junior High in Johnson County for five years while Tom attended Kansas University Medical School. Daughter Laura joined the family in 1961, and son Peter was born in 1963.

In 1964, Anna and her family settled in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Continuing with her passion, Anna remodeled and updated an older house that became the family home for almost 60 years. Anna and Tom acquired ranch land in Arkansas, building a woodland cabin incorporating scavenged materials from Northside High School. She managed a small cow-calf operation for more than 40 years and eventually established a pine tree plantation for which she received forest stewardship recognition from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). By 1966, Anna’s interests expanded to residential real estate. She acquired “fixer-upper” dwellings and restored them to their original, now updated condition. She dubbed them her “rentals”, and she managed them herself. Anna truly enjoyed being a landlady. Her properties were impeccably maintained, and she was known for her prompt response to tenants. She developed an expanding circle of people who worked with her along the way. Anna was not only respected, but well-liked and beloved. Anna cherished these relationships.

Anna’s ancestors migrated from eastern Europe to central Kansas in 1876, joining their broader Mennonite community who introduced turkey red wheat seeds to the United States. Anna’s great-grandfather, Peter Paul Loewen, and great-grandmother, Anna Wiebe Loewen, built a home made from adobe bricks which is now the “Pioneer Adobe House”, part of the Mennonite Settlement Museum in Hillsboro, Kansas. Following her Mennonite farm roots, Anna and Tom bought farmland in Kansas. Anna established conservation practices for the farmland and received several awards for her efforts from the NRCS in Marion, Kansas, most notably the Continuous Conservation Award for completion of all the federal recommendations. She eventually bought and remodeled three older homes in Marion County including restoring a pre-1900’s farmhouse and outbuildings. Anna loved and cherished her farmers and their families.

Anna loved her three children, and they all agreed that Anna was their “most admired person” in addition to being their mother. Anna was not only intelligent, she was smart. She was an astute businesswoman with unparallelled determination and resilience that served her well.

She celebrated with her children in happy times and cried with them in sad times. She pro-actively supported their interests and was always present at their school events, sports games, and performances. She was active in church, girl scouts, boy scouts, and school activities. Family breakfasts and dinners were a cherished time where everyone in the family shared their thoughts and experiences along with much laughter. She encouraged each of her children to pursue higher education. Anna and Tom frequently traveled to their homes with the same energy and creativity she had for her family home–helping them improve, update, remodel, and landscape. With her two granddaughters, Anna created and assisted with interesting projects when they came to visit including developing family trees and learning to sew. She made them beautiful dresses and Halloween costumes every year.

The family enjoyed a long tradition of going to Lake Tenkiller. Anna always came prepared with delicious meals. She learned to slalom waterski with the rest of the family, many times skiing from one end of the lake to the other (this took over an hour!). Many friends and family learned to waterski with the Raymonds.

Anna followed her public confession of belief in Jesus Christ and was baptized into the Christian faith on Easter Sunday, April 15, 1951. She was a loyal and committed member of Southside Baptist Church in Fort Smith beginning in 1964. There she served in many positions including Sunday school teacher, personnel committee member, and buildings and grounds chairman.

As a mother and grandmother, Anna set the most wonderful example for her family. She modeled values which included caring for others, kindness, and generosity. Her family aspires to carry that spirit into the future.

Anna wishes to leave her everlasting thanks to those with whom she has shared her life; for the friends she has had the privilege to make; and for the love, friendship, knowledge, and support she has received from all those she has known throughout the years. The intangible gifts she received from them were her greatest blessing.

Anna was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Hamilton Raymond, who died in 2020.

Anna is survived by her daughter, Linda Gail Raymond and husband, William H. Trescher of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania; her daughter, Laura Raymond Swann and husband, Thomas Dossett Swann of Waco, Texas; her son, Peter Thomas Raymond of Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania; and her grand-daughters Sarah Abby Trescher of Reno, Nevada and Claire Ellen Trescher of Baltimore, Maryland.

A private memorial service will be held in the Springfield Cemetery in Marion County, Kansas, at a future date. Memorials may be sent to: Hillsboro Museums; c/o City of Hillsboro; 118 E. Grand; Hillsboro, KS 67063. Online condolences may be sent through Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home in Waco, Texas (whbfamily.com).